One of the worst crashes in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — According to the police, it was one of worst crashes in Southern California that caused the death of eight people and injured many others. Last Friday, Federal authorities gave the order that the crashed bus operator immediately cease its operation as their inspection showed that the vehicles are poorly maintained and their drivers properly disqualified to manage a bus.

In promulgating the order, Administrators of Motor Carrier Safety Administration stated that all three buses currently based in Scapadas Magicas LLC and owned by the National City, Calif. will cease operating due to unsafe condition that their bus posed to public safety.

The worthiness of the bus was tested after it was wrecked on February 3 and the driver reasoned that it was due to brake failure. It seemed that no inspection was conducted on the bus before it left for the tour. In an unstable condition, the bus crashed against a sedan on the road as it was speeding along the San Bernardino Mountains. There were 38 passengers, with one driver and including a tour guide and they were going back to Tijuana.

A post inspection conducted last Friday by Company’s regulators and it brought to the surface serious violations in mechanical safety, including problems of brake. Inspectors found out that the company has not been conducting daily inspection of their buses which may have been the main reason leading to the Car crash.

Last January of this year, a compliance review was conducted in Scapadas Magicas to test compliance to the company’s management safety system and they failed to take necessary steps. So the management is no longer allowed to continue its operation.

It was a black 4th of February in 2013 when a bus filled with exhausted tourists were returning home to Tijuana after spending a day at Big Bear where they were skiing and snowboarding. The vehicle was going down the road slowly from town Big Bear’s ski resort when the vehicle suddenly accelerated its speed as the driver shouted for passengers to call 911 as the brake failed.

As the bus was careening down hill, it rear-ended a sedan that was running along its path; then it veered and turned as it slid to its sides. A Ford coming from the approaching lane plowed into the fallen bus as passengers were ejected from the broken windows; it was then that the vehicle stopped.

Seven people who died on the scene and three dozen sustained both critical and minor injuries. Last Monday morning, families of the victims trooped to the area hospital to search for their loved ones.

The Board of National Transportation Safety sent a team of inspectors to the scene to help in the investigation, which will show if the cause is mechanical failure or driver’s error. The operator of the bus was identified as 52 years old Norberto B. Perez and resident of San Ysidro.

Officials announced that the number of deaths rose from number seven to eight when after the driver of the pickup truck, Fred Bailey Richardson, age 72, struck by the bus died Wednesday morning.